Effectively communicating your medical condition to your doctor is of paramount importance when it comes to getting properly diagnosed and treated. The New York Times offers several tips for improving your doctor-patient communications.

Apart from preparing for the visit beforehand and coming in with a list of your most pressing questions, The Times suggests setting a clear agenda for the visit.

By assuming a more direct role, patients can avoid receiving information that is outside their area of concern and will increase the odds that their questions will be answered. The article suggests starting out with a declarative statement such as "I need you to know what I'm going through and what my questions are" to help set the tone.

Check out the full post to read more ways to enhance your doctor-patient conversations—recording the conversations is another—and consider our related post on getting better advice from your doctor by taking notes. If you have other ideas that helped get you the information you needed, share them in the comments below.